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Cassidy
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Costerus
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Ellis
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Garvin
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Geddes
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McLean
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Malcolm
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McGill
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Osborn
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Randall
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Samuel
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Stainton
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Welsh
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Zurbrigg
Mission Alumni Column
CANADA
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Geddes
Dear Lim Sek Iong,
I am happy to write to you at this time to thank your Committee for your expression of care for former missionaries in Taiwan. You must know that all of us who served in Taiwan are very grateful for our years there and for the opportunities to work with the Christians in the Presbyterian Church of Taiwan. We have deemed it a great privilege to pray for your people and we hope to continue in this time of political and economic change in the island.
You may be interested to know that former missionaries and their families are happy to gather together when the opportunity comes. Our time in Taiwan has made changes in our lives and we are happy to meet our Taiwanese brothers and sisters in Canada. We thank you for the gift from your people in the TCCCNA and we wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas.
John and Flora Geddes.
P.S. Our Christmas letter is in the attachment
Christmas 2008
Waterloo Ontario
Dear Family and Friends, Advent is a beautiful season of preparation for receiving the Christ child anew in our hearts. Our choir sang at both 9:00 and 11:00am services Dec. 7th ¡§An Advent Gospel¡¨ with our Senior High LOGOS which included granddaughters, Tamara and Alisia. Our choir will sing Lessons and Carols at both services Dec. 21st and again Christmas Eve when there will be four services. Fortunately, we only sing at the 9:00 pm service. Our family gathering December 27th at Deb and Paul Schlichters¡¦s here in Waterloo will include Jeremy and Aaron¡¦s girlfriends, and Tamara and Maria & Rob¡¦s family and Heather and Earl Cooper from Bowmanville, and Kate and Laurie if our weather cooperates. Jen Cooper, our eldest granddaughter is in England this year, but she may even turn up.
Paul, Juliette and John in British
Columbia and David, Chia-Chi and boys in
Taiwan complete our scattered family.
Paul and Juliette¡¦s eldest daughter,
Alexis, graduated from the National Ballet
School in May and she is now dancing in
Rotterdam for a year.
Jack and I visited Taiwan the month
of March for the celebrations of the opening
of a new Fine Arts Building with swimming
pools at Tamkang High School where we first
taught English in the early sixties.
The Principal, Albert Yao, and one of
Jack¡¦s students at that time had invited us
back several times for celebrations.
But, this was very special with the
beginning of Elementary classes in the
refitted historic girls school with two
grade one classes, each with a Chinese and
an English-speaking teacher.
Two more classes are to be added each
year for six years.
We had a great time with our Taipei
grandsons, Alex and Nicholas, now nine and
six.
We had carried a croquet set with us
which got used a few times on weekends.
Alex is in grade three at Shihdong
elementary school and has to write his
characters every day.
Nicholas attends the TYPA program at
the American School where David looks after
the after school music and athletic
programs.
In July we again drove to Murray
Garvin¡¦s cottage near Gravenhurst for the
fifth annual Taiwan Missionary Reunion which
included Joy Randall, Wilma Welsh, Marilyn
Ellis and Grace McGill, Diane
(Petrie)Osborne, Louise Gamble, Terry Samuel
and Paul and Mary Beth McLean. Most of us
hope to meet
again Dec. 20th for Grace¡¦s 85th
birthday.
Jack and I are doing well physically.
I am fully recovered from surgery
Oct. 6th to repair a prolapsed bladder.
Jack continues to have recent memory
problems that are be-coming a growing
concern; he is having more testing done to
learn how to slow the process.
We are blessed to be in Waterloo with
family and expert professionals to care for
us.
May you and yours have a blessed
Christmas and all the best in the new year.
Sincerely,
Jack and Betty Geddes |